Post-Match Thread and Ratings Charlton Athletic 2-1 Southend United

[eastling]

It looked like an own goal to me but think it was later credited to the sub Forster Caskey

 

[AndyT]

Very impressive ground - The Valley.

Now they've double-tiered the home end and filled the sides around, it looks like a high quality venue. Really enjoyed the day. Great weather. Great atmosphere in our end. No issues parking and a pint in the ground before the game.

OK, on to the difficult bit.

RATINGS :

Walton 7 - I wouldn't blame him for anything, today. Did well enough and does deal with crosses very competently.

Demetriou 6 - Didn't have a great game. I think he misses the cover that Lenny gives. For example, their first goal initially came from an indifferent tackle by Tims, but where Demi backed off, Lenny would have come across and got a tackle in, there.

Thompson 7.5 MOM - Probably our best player, today. Another solid performance.

Ferdinand 7 - Good to have him back in the side and loved his spirit at the end. Making sure all the players got up and saluted the supporters. Gestured to us to keep our heads up, too. If we do get over the line and into the play-offs, this fella should take a huge amount of credit.

White 7 - Was doing fine until the injury and, of course, that goal!

Timlin 7 - Did OK today. Also had to adapt to two or three different roles, due to the substitutions.

Amos 7 - Thought he did fine, but we ended up with a square midfield, which didn't help to link the play up.

McLaughlin 6.5 - I actually didn't think he did too bad. Improved performance on the last couple of home matches. He did OK with the one-on-one, until he didn't pull it back first time for Coxy to run onto.

Robinson 6 - I really wouldn't start with Theo. He just hasn't quite got the movement and sharpness needed.

Cox 7 - Quality player. Worked hard and drifted into some great positions. Snatched at his chances, though. Needs a confidence boosting goal.

SUBS :

McGlashan 6.5 - I think him and McL were on the wrong wings. They both work better, swapped over.

O'Neill 6 - Nothing much to write home about.

Nouble 5 - :smile::facepalm:

CHARLTON ATHLETIC :

Byrne and Holmes seemed to be their outlets. Thought they were OK, but our last 4 games are going to be like these, so we need to turn these guys around and put them under pressure.

REFEREE :

Thought he was pretty good, in truth.

OVERALL :

As others have said, you can't have Lenny, Wordy, Nile and Cokes missing and not be affected.

That said, I would have started with MAF and not Robbo.

Must win now, on Friday.

Can't leave it to win the last three on the spin and we'll definitely need 9 points, I would say.

 

[THE SEVENTIES NORTH BANK]

Amazing support once again.

 

[AndyT]

Great pic, that! :thumbsup:

 

[OldBlueLady]

Several of the "walkers" in that photo - Lesley in white top immediately above Amos' head, Trust chairman Paul Fitz above McLaughlin in yellow SEETEC top, plus another yellow top along from him.

 

[rayleigh dan]

Think MAF showed some dissent when being subbed at (Bristol Rovers ?)...and we know PB dosent like dissent !

IF that's the reason Nouble came on over MAF then PB's cutting his nose off to spite his face! I've got a horrible feeling you might be right though :sad:.

TBF we were missing four of our best players today, but having said that Charlton looked **** poor and having got a swift equaliser we should have got at least a point.

Phil's made some good substitutions recently, against Walsall and Oldham the subs made a big difference. Today however he got it all wrong. We looked the best team in the second half until he started tinkering, suddenly we lost all shape and were on the back foot.

As others have said why oh why bring on Nouble over Fortune? :stunned: IMO Nouble will be playing non league soon, he's unbelievably bad and reminds me of some of the donkeys we had in the dark old Martin/Little/Newman days. As soon as he came on I knew we'd lose.

Throwing O'Neill on in centre mid was bizarre too when Timlin was doing okay there, an O'Neill/Atkinson midfield is always going to go sideways or backwards.

Hopefully a few of the injured players will be back by Friday. Chesterfield is a must win game now or we can wave the play offs goodbye.

 

[southend_aussies]

4 games, destination is still in our hands, let's see if the players really want it.

All are winnable but we need to play better than that.

 

[Chocolardo]

4 games, destination is still in our hands, let's see if the players really want it.

All are winnable but we need to play better than that.

its not in our hands now

 

[Chocolardo]

All I can say (and I questioned why we signed him at the time) how is that West Ham reject a professional footballer.

he has done nothing for us in a blue shirt bar at fleetwood away cost us a goal (yes I was there before you all ask)

 

[mattitouk]

its not in our hands now

True, but it's not as simple as that, the play off's have never been in our hands until it was mathematically impossible for us (and every other team for that matter) to reach it.

Personally I think Easter Monday will most likely give us more of a realistic idea, when we face MK Dons at home & Millwall travel to Fleetwood, a point V the Dons and Millwall losing to Fleetwood would tip the balance back in our favour. If things go t1ts up and other results go against us, I would say it would take a big ask to catch up with 2 games to go.

 

[RobM]

" It's the Nouble one we don't get. When he's come on as sub from when I've seen him, he hasn't looked like changing a game, or even scoring a goal. He's slow with big lead feet, he can't seem to head a good ball, doesn't hold it up well as he seems to have poor control." Other than that, he looks good!

 

[shrimperjon]

Desperately dispointing again from southend. Us fans again turn up in huge numbers only to be disappointed, not only in defeat but the manner of defeat. I spoke to a steward before the game, he said this is the worse Charlton side he had ever seen. We made them look decent. To be fair in Holmes they had the best player on the pitch, he always plays well against us!

i don't want to blame PB as clearly injuries are affecting the team and his options. But for me Fortune should have started with Cox leaving Theo outwide where he was so effective against Bolton. Theo is so much better running at defenders rather than with his back to goal. Both goals were awful defensively. What this game did show is we've are no way good enough to go up and if we did we would struggle. You can lose 4 or 5 players from the team and struggle so badly. PB has said that this is his best Southend squad, yet a few absentees and we look a very different outfit. Wordsworth came and spoke to his bruv in law before the game, sat in front of us, he said his injury is a slight niggle and should be fit soon, although seeing specialist Tuesday. He was going to stay in the stand but had to go and 'babysit Ranger'.

All in all gutted still still even after a nights sleep, as for the play offs think Bradford and Fleetwood are out of reach as are Scunny you would feel, so probably between us , Millwall and Bristol Rovers. Think we will have to win all four to stand any chance and in yesterday's evidence that is unlikely and maybe not such a bad thing

 

[Skyblue]

when Timlin was doing okay there, an O'Neill/Atkinson midfield is always going to go sideways or backwards.

.

I wasn't there so might be talking rubbish, but the commentary made the observation that Robinson needed balls threading down the channels to use his speed and cause Charlton problems, but all he was getting was balls lumped up to him. Timlin, O'neil and Atkinson do a number of good jobs in midfield but threading intelligent balls up to strikers isn't one of them . Sounded like we needed someone who prefere balls to his feet in tight situations. Someone like Fortune?

 

[Lincoln Shrimp]

Desperately dispointing again from southend. Us fans again turn up in huge numbers only to be disappointed, not only in defeat but the manner of defeat. I spoke to a steward before the game, he said this is the worse Charlton side he had ever seen. We made them look decent. To be fair in Holmes they had the best player on the pitch, he always plays well against us!

i don't want to blame PB as clearly injuries are affecting the team and his options. But for me Fortune should have started with Cox leaving Theo outwide where he was so effective against Bolton. Theo is so much better running at defenders rather than with his back to goal. Both goals were awful defensively. What this game did show is we've are no way good enough to go up and if we did we would struggle. You can lose 4 or 5 players from the team and struggle so badly. PB has said that this is his best Southend squad, yet a few absentees and we look a very different outfit. Wordsworth came and spoke to his bruv in law before the game, sat in front of us, he said his injury is a slight niggle and should be fit soon, although seeing specialist Tuesday. He was going to stay in the stand but had to go and 'babysit Ranger'.

All in all gutted still still even after a nights sleep, as for the play offs think Bradford and Fleetwood are out of reach as are Scunny you would feel, so probably between us , Millwall and Bristol Rovers. Think we will have to win all four to stand any chance and in yesterday's evidence that is unlikely and maybe not such a bad thing

I still maintain that 9 points will be enough to get in the top 6 six. If we get that tally, Millwall would therefore need to win 3 of their remaining 4 games to finish above us.

As i always knew it would be, the loss of Lenny is proving very costly. He is our most important player and deserves a new contract to reflect that.

 

[EastStandBlue]

My first game in a while. Yes, we've four/five starters out, but not putting that Charlton side away probably means we're not fit to go up. Nothing in the final third without Wordsworth, so conceding two was always going to make it particularly difficult.

Thought Timlin was, by some distance, our best player. Wanted to run the show from the middle of the park and had we a functional front three, he would've done. Kept a poor Charlton central midfield unit at bay and some of the diags he shifted out were inch perfect. It's just a shame McLaughlin was having one.

I quite like the look of Amos. Some nice touches and steady in the ball, but he strikes me as a bit of a Payne-esque luxury player. You're sacrificing a more imposing presence by including him in a two-man central midfield and I'd say he'd be better served in front of a two like Timlin and Leonard.

Nouble's an interesting signing, interesting in the sense that there doesn't appear to be any discernible reason as to why he's a professional footballer.

Thought Cox was poor but, again, with nothing in the final third he had to live off scraps.

Three of the back four looked solid. Demetriou looked like he'd spent the afternoon in the sun smoking spice. Far too tentative, particularly for the first goal. Holmes couldn't believe his luck.

 

[mfurok]

IF that's the reason Nouble came on over MAF then PB's cutting his nose off to spite his face! I've got a horrible feeling you might be right though :sad:.

TBF we were missing four of our best players today, having said that Charlton looked **** poor and having got a swift equaliser we should have got at least a point.

Phil's made some good substitutions recently, against Walsall and Oldham the subs made a big difference. Today however he got it all wrong. We looked the best team in the second half until he started tinkering, suddenly we lost all shape and were on the back foot.

As others have said why oh why bring on Nouble over Fortune? :stunned: IMO Nouble will be playing non league soon, he's unbelievably bad and reminds me of some of the donkeys we had in the dark old Martin/Little/Newman days. As soon as he came on I knew we'd lose.

Throwing O'Neill on in centre mid was bizarre too when Timlin was doing okay there, an O'Neill/Atkinson midfield is always going to go sideways or backwards.

Hopefully a few of the injured players will be back by Friday. Chesterfield is a must win game now or we can wave the play offs goodbye.

Excellent summary Dan.

It all comes back to Brown's man management problems.

Losing Ranger is a huge blow but Brown has been afforded a huge squad.

Fortune should never have been taken off at Bristol and could deservedly have shown dissent as he was by far our best player for the first 30 minutes.

Fortune should have started at Charlton or at the least come on at half time.

 

[Tangled up in Blue]

Excellent summary Dan.

It all comes back to Brown's man management problems.

Losing Ranger is a huge blow but Brown has been afforded a huge squad.

Fortune should never have been taken off at Bristol and could deservedly have shown dissent as he was by far our best player for the first 30 minutes.

Fortune should have started at Charlton or at the least come on at half time.

You just don't like Phil Brown,do you? :winking:

 

[Sandbach Shrimper]

As others have said, Charlton were there to be beaten but we were poor. Would've taken a point considering the players we had missing and the other results but disappointing to lose. Credit to Charlton though they defended well and I think Holmes was the best player on the pitch, looked like creating something (or falling over) every time he got the ball. Was impressed with Dasilva the left-back too. We looked lightweight in midfield and missed a physical presence up front, Cox and Robinson just didn't work. Excellent away support and a good day out, shame the players didn't deliver. Ratings:

Walton 6 - Has to be questioned for the first goal getting beat at his near post. Didn't have much else to do.
Demetriou 5 - Struggled against Holmes and Dasilva.
Thompson 7 - Probably MoM, but that's the best of a mediocre bunch.
Ferdinand 7 - Solid
White 6 - Nice to see him score, didn't do much wrong at left-back
Atkinson 6 - Usual self
Amos 5 - Struggled to get into the game, pushed off the ball too easily at times.
Timlin 7 - Couldn't fault his commitment or effort, good corner for the goal.
McLaughlin 6 - Was our main attacking outlet but wasted our best chance of the first half. Some poor decision-making.
Cox 6 - Worked hard but not much came off for him.
Robinson 5 - Disappointing. Didn't really use his pace to stretch the Charlton defence.

Subs:
McGlashan 5 - Didn't do much
O'Neill 5 - Ditto
Nouble 3 - Must be one of the worst substitute performances I've ever seen. The first and hopefully last time I see him in a Southend shirt. Why on earth he came on over Fortune I don't know, if it is because of MAF's dissent at Bristol Rovers then that's pretty pathetic from Brown.

 

[TTS]

I was there yesterday, but this is the first time I've been able to sit down and write a couple of thoughts.

I've read a lot on here about that we should have put a poor Charlton side to the sword and that our squad is big enough to have done this, however, I am not sure people are really taking into consideration the loss of the following players are;

- Lenny
- Coker
- Wordsworth
- Ranger

Actually is, for me, this would be like Chelsea losing Hazard, Kante and Costa... plus a key defender... these are key key players for us, match winners and any squad would struggle to cope with such a spate of absentees. The loss of these players upset the balance of the side and also the fluid nature of how you play the game. Lenny's loss again highlight just what an important player he is for us ( the Gerrard equivalent for me ).

The performance was as I expected when I read of the loss of Ranger and Wordsworth , it was disjointed. I am a keen advocate of hard work and again not one of those players came off the pitch yesterday having given anything other than 100%. Yes there was a couple of poor performances, but I wont point the finger here. The standout performers for me was Thommo and Ferdinand, I really do like this partnership and a big shout to JW, what a tremendous squad player he is, he was a huge loss for us again, especially when taking all other injuries into consideration.

People have questioned the starting front 2, hindsight is a wonderful thing, whether it worked or not, you cant bemoan those starting 2 and I think most at the start would have said that with Ranger out we are lucky to be able to call upon Theo and Cox.

There are still 4 games left. Win on Friday, which we can do ( Hopefully at least one of Ranger or Wordsworth will be back - we did miss the presence of Ranger yesterday ) and then get Lenny back firing on all cylinders on Easter Monday.

It ain't over ... its far from over. Lets look at what we achieved so far and know that we can take this into the last 4 matches.

UTB's

 

[OldBlueLady]

Was that the 2nd of Lenny's three matches? I couldn't remember if it was the 2nd or 3rd?